Volleyball Serving Drills for Beginners

The serve is the one skill in volleyball a player has complete control over executing. The server should move to the baseline, face the target area, and serve the same way each time.

Serving Technique

There are 3 important parts to the serve...

The toss. Most often beginner players have trouble serving because the toss is so inconsistent. Beginning players usually struggle at just serving the ball over the net. This is usually because of erratic tosses. Practice, practice, practice serving and you'll gradually become a much better tosser.

The arm swing. The arm you serve with should have the elbow raised above and behind the shoulder while the hand is up and behind the head. Bring the arm back then forward contacting the ball with the palm.

The contact. You want to contact the center of the ball. Really focus hard on the center of the ball. Make contact with the ball in such a way that the ball doesn't spin. If the ball spins, this is a sign you didn't hit the ball directly in the center.

Volleyball Serving Drills for Beginners

Not only should you learn the skills of serving, but also do serving drills that will help build confidence.

Taking stats on serving can also help motivate players. For example, track the serve and what the opponent does with the serve. Track which player passes the ball, how effective the pass is, and what the result is of the play. Was the ball easily dug or did the team get an easy kill?

Volleyball Serving Drills for Beginners

Serving Ladder Drill

This is a round-robin tournament. Players compete in pairs. The court area on both sides of the net is divided into six zones, numbered by player position.

The Drill

1. Players compete one pair at a time. Serve attempting to serve six balls in order to the designated location. Two balls to zone 1, 2 balls to zone 6, and 2 balls to zone 5.

2. The server gets 3 points for a serve into the correct zone. 1 point for a serve into any other zone, and 0 points for a missed serve.

3. The server's partner feeds balls to the server and calls out the score after each serve. Everyone else shags the balls.

4. At the end of each sequence, partners switch roles. When both players are finished, the player with the higher score reports the winning score to the coach.

5. The coach signals the next pair to begin. Play continues until every player has played every other player.

6. A play-off with the top four finishers gives a great incentive.

Tips for Serving

When creating volleyball serving drills for beginners, keep these things in mind.

Use competition is serving drills to help motivate players and keep drills interesting.

Teach players to recognize when the serve has disrupted the team offense.

Always serve with purpose. For example, where are you aiming your serve? Short to zone 4? Deep to zone 5? Is it a float serve? How can you serve to make it more difficult for your opponent to attack?

Often servers will be more accurate when they focus specifically on serving a certain type of serve. For example, focusing on serving a floater to zone 6 will likely be more accurate and less likely to error rather than just trying to "serve the ball in".